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SPRING 2021 remotely via NATO CIS assets from different distributed locations across Europe and North America . NATO CIS systems demonstrated once again their extreme reliability and flexibility to support all teams in achieving the desired end state .
By the phases The evaluation started with the Evaluation Team Chief to Commander ( ETC2COM ) dialogue in November 2019 . LANDCOM ' s commander at the time , U . S . Army Lieutenant General J . T . Thomson served as ETC and ARRC Commander , Lieutenant General Edward Smythe-Osbourne held a meeting while ARRC was conducting Exercise ARRCADE FUSION 2019 ( AF19 ) at RAF St . Mawgan in UK . They discussed evaluation objectives , specific areas for the upcoming CREVAL with respect to SACEUR ’ s priorities and ARRC ’ s training objectives . The two commanders also discussed options to get more readiness value from the exercise and evaluation .
Later in February 2020 , the staff of both HQs conducted the CREVAL Initial Coordination Meeting ( ICM ) based on the ETC2COM Dialogue outcomes to further develop and refine specific CREVAL requirements . The teams identified how ARRC could be better supported to achieve the desired outcome . The applicable and feasible evaluation criteria were selected with an emphasis on readiness and interoperability requirements .
The first phase of the evaluation , the Corps Planning Phase ( CPP ), was conducted in June 2020 . In this phase , LANDCOM ’ s mission was to assess ARRC ’ s planning capabilities and the overall process . The evaluation team worked together with their ARRC counterparts and thoroughly analyzed all procedures and documents . LANDCOM conducted a Staff Assisted Visit ( SAV ) in the UK and by remote means in late September for final coordination and evaluation requirements for the exercise execution . The final assessment phase ( Field Evaluation ) was conducted during LOLE20 , which was a complex , multi-domain training event designed by LANDCOM together with NATO ’ s Joint
Force Training Center ( JFTC ) in Bydgoszcz , Poland to test the warfighting capability of the ARRC and support their certification as NATO ’ s Warfighting Corps at readiness . The exercise was conducted in South Cerney at RAF Fairford , and Imjin Barracks , UK . It involved more than 1,000 ARRC personnel and key enablers from 21 nations .
Success from the start JFTC Bydgoszcz was key to the success of LOLE20 from the early stages of exercise planning and ensured an excellent exercise control function during the field evaluation phase , supported by NRDC Italy ( NRDC-IT ) and NRDC Greece ( NRDC-GR ), most of them operating remotely over NATO CIS systems .
The evaluation body consisted of more than 60 personnel which operated with a tailored team deployed to the exercise locations in UK and led by COM LANDCOM with two more teams supporting remotely from HQ LANDCOM and HQ NRDC-ESP . The ARRC conducted a thorough Risk Management process to identify , analyze and manage all risks , including COVID-19 related risks , and ensure smooth execution of the exercise . The ARRC developed an effective force health protection plan , provided rapid COVID tests to all exercise personnel , and built safe “ bubble ” environments in all locations to mitigate risk related to the COVID-19 pandemic . Despite all the limitations imposed by the global pandemic , HQ ARRC leveraged the opportunity provided by the training events to implement and further experiment with new concepts which were developed recently .
Combat ready HQARRC demonstrated readiness as the designated Warfighting Corps Headquarters and proved its ability to plan and conduct combat operations according to NATO standards in the context of multidomain operations . At the end of the exercise , COM LANDCOM declared ARRC as combatready to respond to any NATO contingency , from crisis response to major joint operations .
With the certification , ARRC becomes NATO ’ s first designated Warfighting Headquarters in decades . COM LANDCOM concluded the ARRC is ready to deploy at short-notice on large-scale operations up to and including high-intensity warfare and , at the same time , a flexible organisation that can act as a joint , land , or corps HQ . Until 2022 ARRC will be held at high-readiness until January 2022 when they will hand over the War Fighting Corps guidon and readiness responsibility to NATO Rapid Deployable Corps Spain ( NRDC-ESP ).
LANDCOM CREVAL leaders celebrate during LOLE20
Although the teams involved in LOLE20 and the ARRC CREVAL faced some challenges , the training event proved to be a valuable venue to identify important best practices which are currently being distributed throughout the NATO community . LC
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